Beautiful Dreamer

Stairs

Chapter Six

"What do you want, Harry?" Hermione asked, speaking into the tiny, circular mirror. The image of him smiling shone back at her.

"Just to see your face."

Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes, although thinking it was terribly sweet all the same.

"You ought to be paying attention to your lesson! Haven't you caught my need for knowledge yet?"

Harry smiled and shook his head. Hermione glanced up as Professor Vector strolled past her desk. She returned to the mirror.

"Look, Harry, I've got to go. I've got work to do."

Harry put on a pout.

"Fine, I'll let you go then."

"Ok," she said, "and Harry, I love you."

He beamed again.

"I love you too, Hermione."

With a small hum, his image disappeared from the surface of the mirror. Hermione sighed and put the mirror back into her pocket.

Harry and Hermione had used the mirrors quite frequently in the past month. Well, Harry had anyway. His constant checking up on her was becoming quite tiresome, actually. It was sweet in an annoying way. The connection that Dumbledore had put on the two of them was not as annoying. On the contrary, it sometimes felt nice to feel that a part of Harry was with her always.

Dumbledore had been right about the aches and pains, but it was nothing a potion from Madame Pomfrey couldn't cure. Hermione looked up as the bell rang for lunch. She gathered up her things and headed to the library for a little while to look up Postari Mushrooms as extra credit. She forgot all about going to see Madame Pomfrey to get her muscle-strengthening potion.

_-_

"Hey Ron, have you seen Hermione?"

"Not since breakfast mate, why? Didn't she go to lunch?"

Harry shook his head and stood up next to the Gryffindor table. She hadn't come down. Harry peered over the heads of the students for his bushy haired girlfriend but she wasn't to be found. Harry reached to get out his mirror, but saw Ron looking at him curiously.

"Um, I'll be back," said Harry and he dashed out of the Great Hall.

He hid in the shadow of the stairs and whispered into the mirror.

"Hermione."

The surface of the mirror only showed his reflection. He spoke louder.

"Hermione Granger."

The mirror stayed the same.

"Um, Enoimreh Regnarg?" he said, hoping the mirror would recognize her Vesuvian name. Nothing. He shook the mirror, angry at it for not cooperating.

Harry suddenly clamped his hands over his ears. A screaming had just erupted in his brain. It was screaming, "HARRY!!!". Harry's eyes snapped open.

"Hermione!" he yelled.

_-_Twenty Minutes Before_-_

Hermione came out of the library with her arms full of parchment. The halls were empty. Then she remembered that everyone was down at lunch. She decided to take a short cut to get there.

"Ugh," she said. She didn't feel so good. She put a hand around her stomach and stopped to take a quick rest. Then she was off again. She got to the top of the stairs that would lead her down to the third floor. They seemed so steep. She was suddenly swept with a feeling of nausea. She shook her head. I'm fine. She thought. No need to bother Harry. She thought of the mirror in her pocket.

She took the steps carefully, one at a time. When only four steps down her right leg gave way.

She screamed as she fell, throwing her arms over her head to try and shield her. She fell down thirteen steps and managed to come to a stop. The parchment she'd been carrying fluttered away and she heard the "click, click, click" of the mirror as it fell out of her pocket, bouncing happily the rest of the way down the stairs and coming to a clattering stop at the bottom.

Hermione couldn't breathe. Tears jumped to her eyes and she tasted the bitter sweetness of blood in her mouth. She must have bitten her tongue. She tried to sit up but only managed to fall another step downward. She sat there on the steps, panicked. What do I do? She thought frantically. She looked down at the mirror. Her eyes glowed blue as she concentrated hard on making the tiny mirror move. It gave a feeble jiggle and then moved no more. Hermione sighed and then gasped for pain.

She didn't know how long she'd been there, she guessed maybe ten minutes. She'd shouted help for five minutes, but not even Peeves the Poltergeist came by. She didn't know when she'd started crying, all she knew was that she couldn't stop. I have to calm down if I'm going to get anywhere. She thought. Her muscles were still throbbing with pain and she didn't dare try to move again because she'd only fall further. Oh, Harry, where are you? I need you? Hermione stopped. Maybe she could reach him with her mind. After all, they were connected now. Maybe by some miracle he could hear her. She closed her eyes and though: Harry come save me! She peeked open. Nothing. No racing footsteps, no answer in her brain. She tried again. Harry, I need you! Still there was no response. She closed her eyes one last time and screamed in her mind, if it was possible: "HARRY!!!"

_-_

Harry ran into the hall, not knowing exactly where he was going. If I were Hermione, where would I be? He thought. The library. He ran to the library and went inside. He ran around the library, looking for her but she wasn't there. He stood outside the library doors thinking. How could he find her, he didn't have the Marauder's Map! Then he remembered something Dumbledore had said:

"The spell would be one that 'connects' the two of you until the affects of the enchantment are over. In other words, Harry will be able to sense where you are and vice versa."

That's it! Harry closed his eyes and tried to think of where Hermione could be. He didn't sense anything. Harry tried desperately to isolate Hermione from himself inside his brain but he found it immensely difficult. She'd become a part of him and he couldn't just ignore that that easy. He screwed up his eyes in concentration. A pair of stairs flashed across his vision. A mirror lying on the floor, a statue of a witch with an old fashion broomstick at the top of the stairs, bits of parchment everywhere - wait, the statue. That statue was on the fourth floor in the hall only five minutes from the library. Harry opened his eyes and was off at a run. I'm coming Hermione. He thought, praying that she could hear.

_-_

Hermione had given up hope. He hadn't responded. Her breath was coming in short rasping gasps now and it hurt to lift her head, yet the stairs she was sprawled on were digging into her temple. Her tears had slowed to a stop, leaving sticky trails that she couldn't wipe away.

"Oh, Harry," she moaned, "Where are you?"

"I'm right here."

The voice shocked her so much that she jerked her head up, which was a big mistake as it stimulated the salty flow from her eyes once again. Harry fell to his knees on the step beside her.

"Hermione, are you ok?" he asked, panicked.

Hermione shook her head, flooded with the relief that he had finally come.

"I c-can't move."

Harry touched a hand to her face.

"Where does it hurt?"

Hermione inhaled sharply.

"Everywhere."

Harry nodded. He knew he couldn't touch her or else he'd only injure her further. There was only one spell that he knew could help them. He got to his feet and positioned his wand over her.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" he shouted. Hermione was amazed as she felt herself floating a few inches off the ground.

Levitating a feather in Professor Flitwick's class was one thing, levitating one's fifteen-year old girlfriend was an entirely different matter. Harry put both hands on his wand and struggled to keep her steady. He managed to float her to the Hospital Wing.

Madam Pomfrey managed to get her onto a hospital bed before she shooed Harry out the door. Right before he departed, Harry touched her hand.

"I love you," he said. She nodded, and he left. To his surprise he found Malfoy outside the doors waiting for him. He walked up to him and handed him something. The mirror.

"Might not want to lose that," he said and turned and disappeared down the corridor. Harry just stared at it numbly, and muttered:

"Thanks."